Chapter 17
1
The whole congregation of the sons of Israel journeyed from the Wilderness of Sin to their journeyings according to the mouth of the LORD, and they encamped at Rephidim. But there was no water for the people to drink.
2
The people quarreled with Moses, and they said, "Give us water to drink." Moses said to them, "Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the LORD?"
3
The people quarreled there for water. The people quarreled against Moses and said, "Why is it that you have brought us up from Egypt to kill me and my sons and my livestock with thirst?"
4
Moses cried out to the LORD, saying, "What shall I do with this people? A little more and they will stone me."
5
And the LORD said to Moses, "Go before the people. Take with you some of the elders of Israel and your staff, the one with which you struck the Nile. Take it in your hand and go."
6
Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb. You shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, and the people will drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.
7
He called the name of the place Massah and Meribah because of the dispute of the sons of Israel and because they tested the LORD, saying, "Is the LORD among us or not?"